# My NewAir wineador thread



## Sigaar (Sep 19, 2014)

I'm starting to think about getting a wineador. I'm not out of space in my humidor or tupperdor (yet), but living in a house without A/C, I figure I'll likely need one for temperature control by next spring anyway. I have an Amazon Prime membership so I was looking at the offerings on Amazon and saw they had both New Air and Whynter models that are already setup and ready to go with cedar shelves/drawers for cigar storage. Most have zip for reviews, so unclear if they are decent quality.

Anyone have one of these they can comment on? I would post a few links, but I'm not "senior" enough here to have permission to post links.

Thanks!

ETA: Changed the name of this thread, since I'll likely post questions/progress with my new wineador.


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## magoo6541 (Mar 9, 2014)

*Re: Anyone buy a cigar wineador on Amazon?*

I'm an instant gratification type of person. When I was looking for a wineador, I started looking for a CC-280E because I wanted one ready to go right out of the box. I couldn't find anything in stock and they were backordered for around 8 weeks.

Long story short, I ordered a AW281 from Best Buy and ordered shelves and had them expedited. I had a wineador setup and running within 2 weeks.

The good thing about not going the wineador via Amazon is you can usually get it up and running quicker unless someone has a cc-280 in stock. You also get to customize it the way you need it... The 4 drawers and 2 shelves wouldn't have worked for me.


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## SeanTheEvans (Dec 13, 2013)

*Re: Anyone buy a cigar wineador on Amazon?*

Quality should be similar as the guys who make the drawers here worked with the companies to create these contraptions.

I think they may end up being a bit cheaper too, but you lose the customizable options.


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## Sigaar (Sep 19, 2014)

*Re: Anyone buy a cigar wineador on Amazon?*

Thanks guys, they have the NewAir CC-280E in stock, so going to pull the trigger. Now just need to do some searches here to figure out best way to regulate the RH. I was thinking Heartfelt Beads, but they seem a bit pricey, so maybe silica cat litter...


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## Aithos (Jul 13, 2014)

*Re: Anyone buy a cigar wineador on Amazon?*

I would go with either heartfelt or HCM beads instead of kitty litter personally. Kitty litter may be less expensive but it can be harder to regulate and you have to condition the kitty litter, it also takes a lot more kitty litter to maintain your RH than it would beads. This is one of those instances where I think it's worth spending the money for the performance and ease of use.


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## SeanTheEvans (Dec 13, 2013)

*Re: Anyone buy a cigar wineador on Amazon?*



Sigaar said:


> Thanks guys, they have the NewAir CC-280E in stock, so going to pull the trigger. Now just need to do some searches here to figure out best way to regulate the RH. I was thinking Heartfelt Beads, but they seem a bit pricey, so maybe silica cat litter...


HF Beads work amazing. I have them. That being said, with a wineador, I hear Kitty Litter works great, and I may become a convert myself when I switch enclosures. I'd say KL is best for coolers/wineadors, because you HAVE all that space, while in humis and most tupperdors, space is a premium, so Boveda and HF beads take the win. In a small (20-25 ct) humi, I'd say Boveda every time.


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## profanitypete (Jul 18, 2014)

*Re: Anyone buy a cigar wineador on Amazon?*

Not to thread jack, but if you're okay without the instant gratification & want better built drawers, I just set up an etsy shop & we're selling traditional-built drawers. There's a thread in the Retailer section.


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## Sigaar (Sep 19, 2014)

*Re: Anyone buy a cigar wineador on Amazon?*

Well that was fast!:thumb: Pretty excited that my New Air cigar wineador arrived today. It was in perfect condition. I cleaned it up and it doesn't seem to have any strong plastic smell, so I've got 2 dishes of distilled water sitting in it to get the cedar seasoned. Once I'm into the 70-75%RH range, I'll put the 65% HF beads in and see if it settles down to 65%. Guessing it'll need a week or so before my cigars move into their new home.

Sorry the pic is sideways!


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## Auburnguy (Sep 21, 2014)

*Re: Anyone buy a cigar wineador on Amazon?*



Sigaar said:


> Well that was fast!:thumb: Pretty excited that my New Air cigar wineador arrived today. It was in perfect condition. I cleaned it up and it doesn't seem to have any strong plastic smell, so I've got 2 dishes of distilled water sitting in it to get the cedar seasoned. Once I'm into the 70-75%RH range, I'll put the 65% HF beads in and see if it settles down to 65%. Guessing it'll need a week or so before my cigars move into their new home.
> 
> Sorry the pic is sideways!
> 
> View attachment 50748


Do you happen to have a link sir? That is a nice looking unit


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## Sigaar (Sep 19, 2014)

*Re: Anyone buy a cigar wineador on Amazon?*



Auburnguy said:


> Do you happen to have a link sir? That is a nice looking unit


Sure, here you go...

Amazon.com: NewAir CC-280E 400 Count Cigar Cooler: Appliances


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## Auburnguy (Sep 21, 2014)

*Re: Anyone buy a cigar wineador on Amazon?*

Very cool. Any idea how many cigars it can hold? Not that I would ever need to store that many, just curious.


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## WNYTony (Feb 12, 2014)

*Re: Anyone buy a cigar wineador on Amazon?*



Auburnguy said:


> Very cool. Any idea how many cigars it can hold? Not that I would ever need to store that many, just curious.


I have one with 4 drawers and a 5th on order and coming. I don't store much in boxes as it takes up too much space as opposed to stuffing the drawers.
I have over 500 now and with that 5th drawer I can easily get 600+


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## Auburnguy (Sep 21, 2014)

*Re: Anyone buy a cigar wineador on Amazon?*

Wow, that is more than I should ever own. But I like the looks of that.


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## Wicked_Rhube (Jul 29, 2012)

*Re: Anyone buy a cigar wineador on Amazon?*



Auburnguy said:


> Not that I would ever need to store that many, just curious.


Yeah, we'll see.....


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## WNYTony (Feb 12, 2014)

*Re: Anyone buy a cigar wineador on Amazon?*



Wicked_Rhube said:


> Yeah, we'll see.....


LOL - what he said ! It's a slippery slope

To be fair - I do have more smaller sticks than the big guys in my mix.


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## Auburnguy (Sep 21, 2014)

*Re: Anyone buy a cigar wineador on Amazon?*



Wicked_Rhube said:


> Yeah, we'll see.....


Your probably right, I hope your not, but the way my humidors are looking, it might be time to start looking bigger here soon. I already started a Tupperdor.


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## ELLASU (Jun 9, 2014)

*Re: Anyone buy a cigar wineador on Amazon?*

http://www.cigarforums.net/forums/vb/cigar-accessory-discussion/336709-wineador-280-a.html

Here is mine, I'm glad I got it and it is filling up fast. I did not want to wait for the shelves either so I bought the package. Money was not too much an issue with me so I didn't wait. I have to say the whole experience was good. I had a little issue with shipping do to a back order, but it was resolved seamlessly. I recommend.

p.s. as far as beads, I have used kitty litter and they are on point. The 3 aquarium bags you see in the bottom work great. Filled them up, gave them a little squirt of DW and they hold 65% rock solid. In fact my friend is jealous that my sticks burn so much better than his. I told him it must the % as I moved down from 70 to 65 and they all burn great after a few days in there.


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## Sigaar (Sep 19, 2014)

*Re: Anyone buy a cigar wineador on Amazon?*



ELLASU said:


> http://www.cigarforums.net/forums/vb/cigar-accessory-discussion/336709-wineador-280-a.html
> 
> Here is mine, I'm glad I got it and it is filling up fast. I did not want to wait for the shelves either so I bought the package. Money was not too much an issue with me so I didn't wait. I have to say the whole experience was good. I had a little issue with shipping do to a back order, but it was resolved seamlessly. I recommend.
> 
> p.s. as far as beads, I have used kitty litter and they are on point. The 3 aquarium bags you see in the bottom work great. Filled them up, gave them a little squirt of DW and they hold 65% rock solid. In fact my friend is jealous that my sticks burn so much better than his. I told him it must the % as I moved down from 70 to 65 and they all burn great after a few days in there.


Very nice. I'm looking forward to filling mine up! I'm seasoning now, so maybe a couple days to go. I also had a very good customer service experience, no issues at all.


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## Sigaar (Sep 19, 2014)

*Re: Anyone buy a cigar wineador on Amazon?*

So I was at 73-74%RH after a couple days, so decided to remove the dishes of distilled water and replaced them with 65% HF beads. I put 1/2 lb. in a tied-off nylon on an upper shelf and the other 1/2 lb. spread across two dishes at the bottom of the wineador. The RH% was dropping every so slowly...about 1-2% per day with a very cool 61F temp reading (cooler was set at 66). So I've also unplugged it since no cooling is needed at this time with it sitting in my already cool basement.

It looks like the cedar was already probably pretty wet as the RH has been dropping pretty slow with the 65% beads in there, probably due to coming out of summer and the higher humuidity.


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## Billigoat (Mar 29, 2014)

*Re: Anyone buy a cigar wineador on Amazon?*

i'm interested in buying one of the New Air units. Are cedar drawers and shelves sold somewhere separately that will fit this wineador?


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## Sigaar (Sep 19, 2014)

*Re: Anyone buy a cigar wineador on Amazon?*



Billigoat said:


> i'm interested in buying one of the New Air units. Are cedar drawers and shelves sold somewhere separately that will fit this wineador?


Mine came already equipped, though I may end up ordering another drawer. Here is a site for cedar drawers/shelves I've seen mentioned here at Puff.

NewAir - Custom Wineador™ Creations


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## Sigaar (Sep 19, 2014)

*Re: Anyone buy a cigar wineador on Amazon?*

When I run my wineador, it seems to consistently run about 5 degrees cold...If set at 66 the actual temp is about 61-62. Anyone else seeing this with their NewAir units?

And does anyone run kitty litter and beads at the same time? I think I'm a little light on beads and need more media to get this thing stay down at 64-65% RH.


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## Mocoondo (Sep 24, 2014)

*Re: Anyone buy a cigar wineador on Amazon?*



Sigaar said:


> When I run my wineador, it seems to consistently run about 5 degrees cold...If set at 66 the actual temp is about 61-62. Anyone else seeing this with their NewAir units?
> 
> And does anyone run kitty litter and beads at the same time? I think I'm a little light on beads and need more media to get this thing stay down at 64-65% RH.


I find that mine runs about 5 degrees warmer than actual interior temperature. In other words, if I want 65 degrees, I have to set mine at 60 degrees.

For humidity, I run a Xikar 250 stick humidifier and a single sack of kitty litter. I give the bag of kitty litter a few squirts of distilled water every now and again when I see RH start to drop. How often it drops depends on ambient RH. In the winter, it starts to drop every couple weeks. In the summer, it may not drop at all.


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## Herf N Turf (Dec 31, 2008)

*Re: Anyone buy a cigar wineador on Amazon?*



magoo6541 said:


> I'm an instant gratification type of person. When I was looking for a wineador, I started looking for a CC-280E because I wanted one ready to go right out of the box. I couldn't find anything in stock and they were backordered for around 8 weeks.


They're not technically, "backordered." That's just the amount of time it normally takes to build the internals.



WNYTony said:


> I have one with 4 drawers and a 5th on order and coming. I don't store much in boxes as it takes up too much space as opposed to stuffing the drawers.
> I have over 500 now and with that 5th drawer I can easily get 600+


And, so I thought, too. BUT, if you figure out the trigonometry of just how much space is lost with drawers; air between them, thickness of stock, gaps top and bottom, you'll be surprised. You can get roughly 25% more cigars in them if you're good at box Tetrus.



Wicked_Rhube said:


> Yeah, we'll see.....


ound:



Sigaar said:


> When I run my wineador, it seems to consistently run about 5 degrees cold...If set at 66 the actual temp is about 61-62. Anyone else seeing this with their NewAir units?
> 
> And does anyone run kitty litter and beads at the same time? I think I'm a little light on beads and need more media to get this thing stay down at 64-65% RH.


It's not just the New Air. Most of them seem to run a little on the cool side. Mine does and I have an analogue thermostat.

Seasoning a wineador is WAYYY simpler than seasoning a traditional humidor. There's no reason to restrict yourself to passive seasoning, since you don't care if you slightly warp something that doesn't rely on a seal. Drawers and shelves will move around anyway, regardless if seasoned, or not. ALWAYS take a reading prior to doing ANYTHING. If after that, they indeed require some extra moisture, just wipe them down GENTLY a time, or three. I prefer to install beads un-charged and let them passively charge, while fine-tuning the RH inside. You'll also notice your RH running a little on the high side, due to the cold. So, if you're running 65% beads, you'll see 66-67%. Don't panic, it's fine. Just Isaac Newton messing with you.


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## WNYTony (Feb 12, 2014)

*Re: Anyone buy a cigar wineador on Amazon?*



Herf N Turf said:


> And, so I thought, too. BUT, if you figure out the trigonometry of just how much space is lost with drawers; air between them, thickness of stock, gaps top and bottom, you'll be surprised. You can get roughly 25% more cigars in them if you're good at box Tetrus.


Really ?? That must be without any shelves in there as the drawer is basically the same as a shelf in terms of height. I'd give a little for the sides and some space in the back, but I have them filled pretty much to the top so I don't see much space between. But you would have fewer shelves with boxes - I'll give that too but gotta take some back for all the sides/tops/bottoms of those boxes.
I'm not smart enough to dispute it but that's a surprise if that's the case.
Maybe I'll rephrase and say it works best for me as I don't buy a ton of boxes - mostly 5'ers.
Thanks for reminding me of the horrors of trigonometry Don :frusty:


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## Sigaar (Sep 19, 2014)

Well, I'm just running kitty litter. Decided to give it a try, and have the RH looking steady around 63%, so put some of my stash into the wineador. It was warm and humid here today, so my humidor climbed from 67F to 72F, so no time like the present! I also unplugged the wineador...figured going from 72F right down to 62F might not be ideal for my cigars. I'll allow them to sit overnight, and then look at plugging it back in.


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## JustinThyme (Jun 17, 2013)

*Re: Anyone buy a cigar wineador on Amazon?*



WNYTony said:


> I have one with 4 drawers and a 5th on order and coming. I don't store much in boxes as it takes up too much space as opposed to stuffing the drawers.
> I have over 500 now and with that 5th drawer I can easily get 600+


Mine is filled mostly with an average robusto size at about 100 sticks per drawer.


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## WNYTony (Feb 12, 2014)

*Re: Anyone buy a cigar wineador on Amazon?*



JustinThyme said:


> Mine is filled mostly with an average robusto size at about 100 sticks per drawer.


Yep.
I have lots of smaller sticks for the car so one and a half of my drawers are Verocu, Petite Cazadores, Bait Fish, Petite Tats, etc... and you can really pack those in there so I figure I make up an extra 100 in that space. The one drawer alone has to be close to 200 of those little guys.

Why do you even still have a wineador with that monster you're running ? LOL


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## Sigaar (Sep 19, 2014)

My wineador has settled in nicely at 64-65%RH with it plugged in and with just Exquisicat litter for humidification. I have it set at the max 66F temp, which has been showing 61-62F on the hygrometer, so a little cooler than I would like, but steady. Very happy with the purchase and the relative ease getting it situated.:thumb:


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## ELLASU (Jun 9, 2014)

Yea my temp is never exact either. I use my hygrometer readings for temp. They always show a few degrees difference from the unit temp. My kitty litter keeps my humidity spot on.


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